More than 250 killed in Algerian military plane crash

More than 250 people were killed when a military plane crashed in a field outside Algeria’s capital on Wednesday, state media said, in the country's worst air disaster.

A military source told Al Arabiya News Channel that there were no survivors.

The crash occurred in Boufarik, a town in Blida Province, approximately 30 km from the capital Algiers.

A total of 257 people were killed, most of them military, the defence ministry said. Ten crew and other people described as family members also died, and a number of survivors were being treated at an army hospital, the ministry added.

A member of Algeria’s ruling FLN party told the private Ennahar TV station the dead included 26 members of Polisario, an Algerian-backed group fighting for the independence of neighbouring Western Sahara - a territory also claimed by Morocco in a long-running dispute.

The plane was heading to Tindouf, an area on Algeria’s border with Western Sahara, but crashed on the airport’s perimeter, Algeria’s defence ministry said.